Illuminations retirement rumors and other such Disney stuff.
Jul 1, 2017 14:50:26 GMT
Dan_Mol likes this
Post by Future Boy on Jul 1, 2017 14:50:26 GMT
Some news from the park with some very specific ears.
Rumors have been apparently circulating that Illuminations may be on its way out. I won't get too heavy into the detail for it since I'm also linking in a related article on it, but what I will say is that considering EPCOT 1. is basically in high need of an overhaul and 2. Losing sponsorship left and right for its exhibits and attractions, news like this isn't surprising. Speaking objectively, The original message and point of EPCOT is all but gone and the park as a whole is highly dated. I say this as a fan of it as it's one of the 2 parks I prefer to go to. When you think of Disney, you always think of Magic Kingdom(NOT MagicAL, mind you!). You think of the castle, the Lands, the one where you can go to in order to meet Mickey and literally every character possible, see the parade and the over the top night show. You don't think of EPCOT immediately, but when you think of EPCOT you think of what? The World Showcase and Food & Wine Fest.
And "drinking around the world". But that's a given.
Let's think about that for a second though. More specifically, let's look at the World Showcase.
It's a beautifully done area, but it hasn't been updated in ages aside from Frozen. As we know, Frozen was basically added in because of Norway pulling their sponsorship and not wanting to pay the incredibly high upkeep for their attraction(I have suspicions towards ulterior mousy motives but that's a whole other thing). When it comes to World Showcase, our immediate relation isn't necessarily a great place to bring the family for an edutainment experience, or to look at the technological and possibly environmentally-friendly advancements of tomorrow(Walt's original intentions). It's to experience culture through food.
To that, my biggest critique(as a patron of F&W since the age of 21) is that in the last few years, I've seen a ton of repeats in culinary offerings and within the last couple of years, I saw a surge of "fruit noodles" across the showcase menus. I don't know much about the world. My culinary education spans my Hispanic/Italian melting pot upbringing and whatever Alton Brown and the Food Network show and tell me; but what I do know is that "fruit noodles" are not a global phenomenon that have dominated pretty much all culinary cultures (since this doesn't match what the menus actually said, I'll take pictures this year if it happens again. I literally saw "Fruit Noodles" in 4 different booths from 4 different places and zero people actually partaking in such delicacies). As much as EPCOT does offer otherwise, there isn't much draw for attendance besides tradition. This is also overlooking the fact that the World Showcase includes a portion on America WITHIN AMERICA. This is an idea that predates the XZIBIT Pimp Your Ride meme but is literally a perfect example of it.
In short and objectively, the park is in need of at least updating, if not an overhaul. My hope is that in the process they also change the names of that and Hollywood Studios since once the whole thing is done, they'll be literally entirely different parks serving totally different intents from the original concept.
Rumors have been apparently circulating that Illuminations may be on its way out. I won't get too heavy into the detail for it since I'm also linking in a related article on it, but what I will say is that considering EPCOT 1. is basically in high need of an overhaul and 2. Losing sponsorship left and right for its exhibits and attractions, news like this isn't surprising. Speaking objectively, The original message and point of EPCOT is all but gone and the park as a whole is highly dated. I say this as a fan of it as it's one of the 2 parks I prefer to go to. When you think of Disney, you always think of Magic Kingdom(NOT MagicAL, mind you!). You think of the castle, the Lands, the one where you can go to in order to meet Mickey and literally every character possible, see the parade and the over the top night show. You don't think of EPCOT immediately, but when you think of EPCOT you think of what? The World Showcase and Food & Wine Fest.
And "drinking around the world". But that's a given.
Let's think about that for a second though. More specifically, let's look at the World Showcase.
It's a beautifully done area, but it hasn't been updated in ages aside from Frozen. As we know, Frozen was basically added in because of Norway pulling their sponsorship and not wanting to pay the incredibly high upkeep for their attraction(I have suspicions towards ulterior mousy motives but that's a whole other thing). When it comes to World Showcase, our immediate relation isn't necessarily a great place to bring the family for an edutainment experience, or to look at the technological and possibly environmentally-friendly advancements of tomorrow(Walt's original intentions). It's to experience culture through food.
To that, my biggest critique(as a patron of F&W since the age of 21) is that in the last few years, I've seen a ton of repeats in culinary offerings and within the last couple of years, I saw a surge of "fruit noodles" across the showcase menus. I don't know much about the world. My culinary education spans my Hispanic/Italian melting pot upbringing and whatever Alton Brown and the Food Network show and tell me; but what I do know is that "fruit noodles" are not a global phenomenon that have dominated pretty much all culinary cultures (since this doesn't match what the menus actually said, I'll take pictures this year if it happens again. I literally saw "Fruit Noodles" in 4 different booths from 4 different places and zero people actually partaking in such delicacies). As much as EPCOT does offer otherwise, there isn't much draw for attendance besides tradition. This is also overlooking the fact that the World Showcase includes a portion on America WITHIN AMERICA. This is an idea that predates the XZIBIT Pimp Your Ride meme but is literally a perfect example of it.
In short and objectively, the park is in need of at least updating, if not an overhaul. My hope is that in the process they also change the names of that and Hollywood Studios since once the whole thing is done, they'll be literally entirely different parks serving totally different intents from the original concept.
